Tuesday, 21 March 2017

I pastor an
assembly of predominantly young adults and both from observing people and my
personal experiences, I understand the desire and pressure to fit in.

As a teenager, I
received numerous lectures about peer pressure and its effect and I think one
of the reasons I seriously looked forward to growing a beard was to join the
league of men who were big enough to take their own decisions without the influence
of others or being tagged as a small boy; little did I know that it’s a continuous
cycle…

As I grow in God
and become more aware of my environment, I begin to question things around me,
judging them to affirm their alignment with the word of the God. This has
become a favourite past time of mine and its quite interesting spending hours
with God debating on things that I used to know as against how God really sees
them.

That’s not what I’m
writing about today though, but it was on one of such occasions that the Lord
pointed me to the subject of my post today.

For some reason
during one of my quiet times, I picked up my phone and on my timeline I saw the
word “Slay Queen”. The word stayed
with me for a while and since it was my quiet time, I needed to discard the
carnal thought immediately to enable me focus on deep stuff.

I know that slay
queen is a phrase that some ladies use to describe themselves these days and as
hard as I tried, I couldn’t shake off the knowing that the Lord was trying to
tell me something about it. So since my quiet time is for communing with the
Father, I thought that if it was females that He wanted us to discuss today,
then…. So be it.

He asked me to
turn to a passage in scripture:

Proverbs 7:1-27

1 My son, keep my words, and
treasure my commands within you. 2
Keep my commands and live, and my law as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your finger; write them
on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say
to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your nearest kin, 5 That they may keep you from the
immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words. 6 For at the window of my house I looked
through my lattice, 7 And saw among
the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding, 8 Passing along the street near her
corner; and he took the path to her house 9
In the twilight, in the evening, in the black dark night. 10 And there a woman met him, with the attire of a harlot, and a
crafty heart. 11 She was loud and
rebellious, her feet would not stay at home. 12 At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking
at every corner. 13 So she caught
him and kissed; with an impudent face she said to him: 14 “I have peace offereings with me; today I have paid my vows. 15 So I came out to meet you,
diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. 16 I have spread my bed with tapestry, coloured coverings of
Egyptian linen. 17 I have perfumed
my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. 18
Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with
love. 19 For my husband is not at
home; He has gone on a long journey; 20
He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the appointed day.”
21 With her enticing speech she
caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. 22 Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to slaughter, or as a
fool to the correction off the stocks, 23
Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know
it would cost his life. 24 Now
therefore, listen to me, my children; pay attention to the words of my mouth: 25 Do not let your heart turn aside to
her ways, do not stray into her paths; 26
For as she cast down many wounded, and all
who were slain by her were strong men. 27Her house is the way to hell, descending
to the chambers of death.

Permit me to add
SELAH!

I read this
passage and I was weak. I immediately understood why the phrase stuck with me. The
person that used the line probably was trying to say that she looked
exceptionally beautiful that day, however, because she felt the need to use a
slang that is currently in vogue, she had roped herself into something that had
far much more reaching implications than she was aware of.

I paused and began
to think of all the other things that have either recently or in time past come
into vogue that people have no clue where these things emanated from and for a
need to fit in, people just join the band wagon and blindly follow the trends. What
is a dab? Where did it originate from? What’s a mannequin challenge? To what
end was the usefulness of that challenge? (Let me not go into that one today).

My dear sister,
the next time you consider to address yourself as a slay queen, quickly do
check, Proverbs 7 describes in clear terms the SLAY QUEEN. You could either be
a slay queen or a VIRTUOUS WOMAN
(Proverbs 31), but it is impossible to be both at the same time, so choose!